Undertaker's New Priority
by Tortus44
Summary: "I'll take care of you," he said with a warm smile. He kneeled down and picked her up. He opened a portal to the shinigami realm and he walked through carrying his new priority. (Rated T just in case)
1. The Meeting

**Disclaimer: I do not own any part, character, etc. of Black Butler.  
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He walked down the busy London street, each step making a _clack _sound. He sighed and flipped his long, silver hair over his shoulder with his hand to keep it out of the way. He was on his break, walking around London waiting for his break to end.

_"This is boring…"_ He thought, clicking his tongue. _"What's the point of being a shinigami if you don't reap anybody's soul all day?"  
_  
Just then, a little girl in a forest green dress came running down the walkway and ran into him, not looking where she was going.

"I-I'm so sorry!" She practically squeaked. "It's just; I was running from this man and-"

"GET BACK HERE!" Yelled a rough-looking man running towards them. The little girl let out a yelp like a puppy and hid behind the silver-haired man's legs, latching onto them.

"Oh~?" The silver-haired shinigami said, "What's going on here?" His interest peaked.

"That little brat was going to pick-pocket me! I just know it!" The other man protested.

"No I wasn't!" She yelled, "I only walked past you!"

"Sir, don't assume things." The silver haired man said. The other man shot him a nasty look but he only smiled in return. The rough-looking man grumbled and stomped off, to where, nobody knows. "So~," he looked down at the little girl, "Going to let go of my legs soon?" He asked with a grin.

"O….oh, sorry sir," she said, releasing his legs and taking a step away to look up at him. "My name's Isabel!" She said with a huge grin as the shinigami noticed she had one blue eye and one shinigami eye.

"And how old are you, Isabel?" He asked in a sing-song voice.

"Six!" She answered, holding up six fingers to demonstrate.

_"She should be in shinigami school…" _He thought. "Where are your parents?" He asked aloud.

"My mom died, and my dad left us when I was born…" She replied, still sounding cheerful.

"Oh…" He said, feeling a little sad, "Well, I should be going now…" He said as he started to walk off, but the little girl held onto his leg.

"Please don't leave me," She said, sounding like she was about to cry. The man looked down at her, her eyes welling up with tears. "Take me with you…" The man took into consideration the fact she had no parents, was a shinigami living in the human realm, and was supposed to be in beginning school for shinigami children.

"I'll take care of you," he said with a warm smile. He kneeled down and picked her up. He opened a portal to the shinigami realm and he walked through carrying his new priority.


	2. Glitter Rainbow Wonderland

**(In case you haven't figured it out, the silver-haired man is Undertaker)**

"Thank you," Isabel said softly as Undertaker handed her some tea.

"You're ever so welcome," He said with a smile. _"Warm, but not hot enough to burn," _he thought with a nod. The little girl just sat sipping her tea seeming too shy to talk or act. "So…um…" he said, trying to figure out what to say. They had only arrived at his home in the shinigami realm a half-hour ago.

"You're going to ask about my eye, aren't you?" she asked, looking him in the eye making him uncomfortable.

"Uh…yeah…" he replied.

"Well, mommy always told me my dad was a 'shinigami' and they all had the same eyes. She knew I needed to be with others like me, but she couldn't find a shinigami to help make a portal. She died in a house fire, but the shinigami that came for her soul ignored me…."

"Oh…" he said. Then, he stood up. "I need to go to work, will you be okay?" He got a nod in reply, so he left quietly, leaving her to her thoughts.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Isabel was hiding behind the couch, hearing the shinigami's footsteps coming toward the door. She giggled to herself; he was going to love the surprise she had for him. When he walked through the door, he gasped. She jumped out.

"SURPRISE, MISTER UNDATAKA!" She yelled. He realized it was all her doing and giggled. She always said "undertaker" like that, he thought it was adorable. She had found glitter and streamers while he was gone. There was glitter all over the floor and walls and streamers hanging everywhere. His house had gone from gloomy to glitter rainbow within a few hours.

"I think we should leave it like this, it really brightens the place up~" he giggled again, seeing the joy and excitement in the girl's face. She skipped over and hugged him.

They ate a few minutes after that, having chicken and rice with bread. And after that, they just sat around in the glittery colorful wonderland that used to be a living room. Undertaker was reading and Isabel was humming to herself. The silence was broken by a yawn. Undertaker looked up to see Isabel lying down on the couch.

"Now now," he said walking to her, "You mustn't sleep on the couch, it's not good for your back," he picked her up, "You can sleep in my bed with me tonight." She sheepishly nodded, seeming too tired to keep her eyes open. He carried her to his room and they got in bed, he was already in his sleepwear, but Isabel had no other clothes, so she slept in her dress. "Isabel, you're starting school next week with the other shinigami children, okay?"

"Okay, daddy," she replied. He was shocked; he wasn't her dad, even if he had taken her in, oh well. She must be getting used to this quickly, since she was referring to him as "dad". He smiled at the thought of having a daughter.

"And we'll go shopping for you tomorrow," he added, seeing her face light up. No one had taken her shopping in a long time and she was excited, but worried. She wasn't used to the shinigami realm; all of the grown shinigami scared her in one way or another. She quickly fell asleep, snuggling up to Undertaker adorably. _"She's so adorable, how did she ever survive on the streets?" _he thought. Ah, well. He would find out eventually, he just hoped everything with the other shinigami would go well. He soon fell asleep, dreaming of future birthdays and other special events he would celebrate with his new daughter.

**(Gah! Sorry the chapters are so short! :'( I love you. )**


	3. Maybe

"WAKE UP, MISTER UNDATAKA!" The sheets were pulled off of him, rolling him into the floor.

"WHAT THE-?!" He looked around confused, then realized Isabel was already awake and it -seemed late in the morning. "Oh, I over slept again~" using his sing-song voice. Isabel just watched him from the doorway with big eyes. "Hm~? What is it?"

"Y-your eyes, Undataka…" she replied. He realized his hair was out of his face and he didn't have the glare of his glasses to hide his eyes.

"Oh~? What about them? Are they missing?!" he replied trying to get the shocked look of Isabel's face, to his pleasure, she giggled but then got a semi-serious face and just stared at his eyes. She hopped up on the bed and touched his face next to his eyes, staring in fascination. Undertaker smiled at her fascination.

"Your eyes are so pretty…" she said. Then she smiled and jumped off the bed and looked up at him. "I'm hungry…" she complained, whining. Without responding, Undertaker walked out to the kitchen, passing the rainbow wonderland on his way. He cooked breakfast for them rather fast; the shinigami realm has better and more advanced technology than the human realm, especially for the 1800's. They enjoyed some eggs and toast, Undertaker having some coffee and Isabel having some milk. She ate fast, wanting to go shopping, even though she knew it wasn't ladylike. Undertaker didn't mind, she WAS still a kid after all. She acted rather tomboyish at times, even though she made the glitter rainbow wonderland.

After breakfast, Undertaker got dressed and walked out into the living room to see Isabel staring at the wall.

"Isabel~?" He asked, worried. He looked over and there was a spider, covered in glitter on the wall. A rather large spider at that. _"Hm…afraid of spiders?" _He wondered, it was a silly question, he told himself. All little girls disliked spiders. He walked over and squished it with his foot, seeing as it was crawling down the wall. _"Hehe, so this is what having a daughter is like." _He knew that wasn't all there was to it, he just never killed spiders for young girls... _"Well, not since…." _ He shook his head, getting rid of the thought. He couldn't bring up those memories now, there was shopping to be done. He looked at her, she was staring at him. And he noticed her hair looked odd down, like it was. "I have an idea," he said, "I should braid your hair," his voice rising with excitement. He liked braiding hair, hair other than his especially. Isabel nodded; she never had her hair braided before. He sat down and started braiding her hair, humming away to some tune she didn't know. About 10 minutes later, he was done. "There," he said with an impressed nod. "Well, we're ready to go," he continued, walking towards the door slipping his glasses on. He opened the door and they walked out into the cool, brisk air.

As they were walking down the sidewalk, Isabel stuck close to Undertaker, maybe a little too close, but she didn't care. Everyone would look at Undertaker, a legendary shinigami, and then look at her, a poor, dirty orphan and their eyes would change. Not the color, no. The way they were looking at them. Their looks would turn cold and dirty, as if she were some vermin crawling the streets. She didn't like it at all. Undertaker would notice and shoot them a look, but he wouldn't really say anything. They walked into a store that sold clothes for younger kids, such as Isabel. She chose some outfits and had the most marvelous time filled with joking and laughing, feeling like Undertaker really was her dad _"But he isn't." _she thought. But she could pretend, that's what adopted children did, right? She got so many wonderful outfits. She got a new forest green dress, going well with her dark brown hair; a dress covered in glitter, which she never saw in the human realm; and more dresses, each a different color of the rainbow. She had nine dresses now. She skipped over to the area where they sold red clothing and found a beautiful red dress with bows and frills. She loved it. She looked up and saw a boy about her age about ten feet away, looking at red clothes. At least, she thought it was a boy. He had red hair that was long for a boy, but not very long. He looked up and she realized she was staring. He faintly smiled, keeping his mouth closed. _"Why not show your teeth when you smile?" _she wondered to herself. Then, his father (she guessed it was his father) walked over to take him to the counter to pay for his new outfit. She watched them until they left the store, the boy knowing and glancing her way a few times. Then she returned to Undertaker and they paid, leaving the store. They dropped her clothes off at home, but she changed into her new forest green dress before they went to the furniture store. She picked a bed that's frame made it feel like part of the forest and got lots of things forest-themed and a lot of plants for her room. She always liked the forest, but rarely got to go there.

Once they arranged her room, they set off again. She didn't know what for, but she was excited. As they walked, she kept getting dirty looks from other shinigami. She didn't know why, she looked like all the other children except for…. _"My eye…" _she realized. She always got ridiculed for her eye. She hated having one eye different from the other. She wanted them to be the same SO bad. She wondered what Undertaker thought of her eyes…did it make a difference? Did he take pity on her? Was he fascinated? Was he afraid? Did they make him uncomfortable? She got sad all of a sudden. She couldn't help it, thinking of her eye always made her sad. Her mother died in a house fire, but it was a hate crime that their neighbor did. Her mother died because of her eye, she knew it. She wasn't dumb. Anyone could tell. Her eyes welled up with tears, but she fought them back. No, it was her neighbors fault. It really actually confused her.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOO

Once they got home, she realized they just went for a walk. On that walk, Undertaker declared that she would start school tomorrow. _"I guess I'll find out how they think of my eye tomorrow…maybe the boy with the red hair will be there," _she thought as she crawled into bed. Maybe they would be accepting of her. Maybe the boy would be there. Maybe she would make friends. _"Maybe…"_


	4. School Time

Undertaker gently woke up Isabel. She had exactly an hour to get ready and get to school, and he knew how important the first day of school was, especially for shinigami. She yawned and stretched, only for him to be gone by the time she looked around. She shrugged and hopped onto the wooden floor, it was cold and she didn't have slippers or a rug. The only reason she liked the wooden floor was because it was a darker wood, which made it pretty. She still wasn't used to waking up in this house. She normally awoke hidden under cardboard behind trashcans. She slept like that so no one or **thing** would find her. She shivered at the memory, when she woke up there, it would be cold and the ground was hard and wet, causing her to wake up achy and her dress soggy. But here she didn't have to worry. She still was a bit cautious of Undertaker; they just met the other day, after all.

She walked over to her closet and opened the door, the door sometimes stuck and she would have to pull the handle so hard she would think it would pop off, but this wasn't one of those times. She thought for a moment, then she put on the forest green dress, she hadn't gotten it dirty, so she saw no harm. She went into the living room. Undertaker wasn't there, but she noticed some of the streamers had fallen. She didn't have time to put them back up. _"I'll fix them after school," _she thought. She then wandered into the kitchen to find Undertaker drinking some coffee. She thought it was weird, everyone drank tea. Well, except him.

"Would you like something to eat~?" Undertaker asked, noticing her look at his coffee weird.

"No," she replied flatly. She had butterflies in her stomach since today was her first day of school. Undertaker let out a slight sigh; she noticed it even though it was too faint for most to notice.

"Well, you have fifteen minutes before we leave~" Undertaker informed her.

_"Fifteen?!" _she thought, _"I could have sworn it was later than that…"_ she was very smart for a six year old, probably because she was a shinigami. She walked to the bathroom and looked in the mirror. Her hair looked terrible. She pulled it back, combing it carefully. She wanted to look perfect, well…as perfect as a six year old could look. Then, she looked at the end result and smiled, she did well. Her gaze drifted to her eyes and she frowned. Why did she have to look this way? Maybe she could just tilt her head a certain way, or part her hair different, or….no, it wouldn't matter anyways. She wandered out into the living room. She really didn't know what to do right now. She just wanted to get to school. She decided to go check her bag to make sure everything was there. She retrieved her black messenger-bag style backpack and rummaged through it. Yep, everything was there: pencil, **(yes, the shinigami had pencils) **some paper, and a beginners' scythe that Undertaker signed for. Shinigami children got their scythes when they turned six, they were taught the basic rules and uses, and learnt to ACTUALLY use them from the age 13-20. At the ages 20-30, shinigami stopped aging look-wise. They lived for thousands of years though. She learnt all this from Undertaker on their little stroll yesterday. She slipped her silver locket with a picture of her mother over her neck and picked up the bag, ready to go.

"Ready to go already~?" Undertaker questioned. She spun around; she hadn't even realized he walked up behind her.

"Yes," she replied, still trying to figure out how he walked up behind her so quietly. He giggled at her puzzled look.

"Well, let's go then," he said opening the door. They walked out, it was cloudy today, and the sky was white without any blue in sight. It was an odd sight and gave off an odd happiness. They began walking and kept walking past houses, shops, stands, shinigami, and training building/fields. They walked for a while and then there were woods on either side of the road. Isabel found it creepy and stepped closer to Undertaker. He giggled, this shouldn't scare her. She'd probably seen worse….probably.

Fifteen minutes later, the trees cleared out some and there was a big iron gate with an iron fence attached.

"Well, here we are~," Undertaker said. He opened the gate for her, "This is as far as I can go, regrettably," he added. Isabel took a gulp and stepped through the gate. Undertaker closed the gate behind her, "Well, I'll see you later," he said before leaving. He looked back every now and then until he got out of eyesight.

Isabel walked forward into the large courtyard in front of the enormous school. It had grassy areas with benches and had cobblestone walkways. In the middle was a large fountain with beautiful designs. On either side of the stairs to the door of the school were marble statues. The one on the left was Undertaker, the one on the right she didn't recognize, but she assumed it was another legendary shinigami. She looked around at the kids; this was only a school for ages 6-10. There weren't as many kids as in schools in the human realm. Each age only had about 30 or 35 kids. _"Then why such a big school?" _she wondered. She walked over to a bench and sat down by herself, too shy to approach anybody. She looked at her hands and fumbled with them.

"Who are you?" she heard as she saw a shadow step in front of her. She looked up; it was the boy with red hair from the store. He smiled when she looked up, revealing pointy sharp teeth. "Now I remember you!" He exclaimed and plopped down beside her, still looking at her, "You were at the clothes store yesterday," he continued.

"Y-yeah," she said shyly, "My name's Isabel…"

"Well, my name's Grell. Grell Sutcliff," he answered smiling cheerily. "I'm six, are you?" he asked, "No offense or anything," he quickly said in case he offended her.

"Yeah, I am six," she said and smiled, "So I guess we're in the same class."

"Yup, you can sit by me, in fact. The kid that sits in front of me's my friend, so we could all be grouped together~!" he exclaimed excitedly.

"Okay," she replied still smiling. A moment later the bell rang, and kids began spilling into the school. She followed Grell into the building and up some beige marble stairs to a classroom. When she walked in, she saw a man standing by the door, he had brown hair slicked back and was wearing a suit; he was the teacher.

"Ah, you must be Isabel," he said with a warm smile, "Mr. Undertaker told me you would be starting school today. We're happy to have you, take a seat anywhere you'd like."

She followed Grell to the middle of the classroom and sat in the desk next to his.

"Hey William!" Grell said to the boy with black hair in front of him, "This is Isabel," he motioned to her and she smiled and waved a bit, "She's the new student!" he exclaimed happily.

"Nice to meet you," William said, "I am William T. Spears, are you also the girl Undertaker took in?" He questioned.

"Uh, yeah," she replied wearily. What was going to happen if everyone knew a legendary shinigami was her caretaker?

"Cool," he said then went back to reading a book on his desk.

"He's a bookworm," said Grell, teasing William. Isabel just nodded and set her bag on the floor.

"Today we get our glasses!" said a girl across the room with blonde hair excitedly.

"Yeah! Now we'll be able to see far away!" replied another girl. The second bell rang and everyone looked forward to the board and the teacher. Today was the "lucky" day they had mainly math. They reviewed adding and subtracting, moved on to larger numbers, and talked about how numbers were infinite. About noon they all went to the cafeteria to eat. They all got the same thing, a sandwich, some tea, and apples. Isabel got a lot of weird looks for her eye, but she got to the point where she ignored them. After lunch, they went to a room that was very large and formed a line leading to a table with two men sitting at it. When Isabel got to the table, she got her pair of glasses; they were all the same, and significantly helped the children see better. They were instructed to sit down and got a lecture about how important a shinigami's glasses were, and told the children that since accidents happened, they didn't mind replacing the glasses for them if something happened to them. That took up the rest of the day, so they left the school building and went to the courtyard to wait to be picked up. Pick-up was the only time parents could go past the gate.

Isabel walked beside Grell and William. They sat on the edge of the fountain to wait and just talked about random things that came up. Older kids would walk by and yell things such as "freak" or "inbred" at Isabel. Eventually Grell got fed up with it and a ten year old boy and two of his same age friends walked by.

"FREAK!" one yelled with long blonde hair.

"Inbred," one with short brown hair sneered.

"Go back to the humans!" the third shouted. He had his head shaved.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size?!" Grell spat as he stood up.

"Grell…" William warned. Isabel got worried for Grell; the other boys were so much bigger. The one with blonde hair shoved Grell back and spat in his face as the shaved one shoved Isabel into the fountain's water. They strode off laughing and high-fiving. William helped Grell up and glared after the trio of jerks; those three picked on him and Grell a lot. Grell pulled Isabel up.

"Are you okay?" he asked.

"Yes," she replied, "I'm used to things like that…"

"Oh…" Grell said with sympathetic eyes. William looked over at the gate.

"Bye, I'll see you tomorrow," he said. He smiled, waved, and then walked over to a man that looked almost exactly like him.

_"That must be his father," _Isabel decided in her head. Then she saw Undertaker walking over and everybody gawking as he strode by. They only ever saw him at a few assemblies if he even had the time to show up.

"Why are you wet, Isabel?" He asked.

"Some boys pushed her into the fountain." Grell answered for her. Undertaker shot a look at the trio, somehow knowing it was them by their guilty faces. They gulped and backed into the crowd, knowing how powerful Undertaker was.

"Well, let's go then," he said spinning on his heel.

"See ya!" Grell told Isabel, giving her a slight hug.

"Yeah, be careful," she said and ran to catch up with Undertaker as they started their walk home. She talked to Undertaker about her new glasses and Grell and William and how much she liked school except for the mean children.

When they got home, she changed and dried off. She glanced in the mirror at her eyes. That was a mistake because she began to cry. She slid her back down the wall and hugged her knees, still crying. She was crying rather noisily, because Undertaker heard her as he walked down the hall. He walked into the room.

"Isabel?" he asked concerned. He got no answer, just more tears from her. He sat beside her and hugged her. "Isabel, it's okay," he said trying to comfort her. She hugged him, well, more like latched onto him. She didn't let go at all, not even to eat. By the time bedtime came around, she had stopped crying, but was still hugging onto him. He decided she would just sleep in his bed, since she wouldn't let go of him.

She even hugged onto him after they got in bed. He waited for her to go to sleep first, so he could comfort her if she began crying again. She took a shaky breathe, and he expected her to cry, but that was not the case.

"Don't ever leave me," she said, nuzzling her head into his chest, still hugging onto him. To him, she sounded like a scared kid, but it made sense for her to say that; after all, her real father left her and her mother, her mom died, and not even the shinigami that took her mother's soul stayed or helped her, a fellow shinigami in need.

"I won't. I will never leave you," he said, kissing her forehead. She seemed to relax a bit and fell asleep soon after.

_"I mean it," _he thought, _"I will not desert you. You're my new daughter. I will __**never**__ leave you."_


	5. The Attack

Isabel awoke by herself in Undertaker's bed. She yawned and looked at the time. _"I woke up late!" _she exclaimed to herself. She sprinted to her room and pulled out a random dress, putting it on as fast as she could. She pulled her hair back like she did the day before and glanced in the mirror. She had pulled out the red dress. _"Now I'll match Grell…" _she thought with a blush, _"Why am I blushing?" _she thought, _"We only became friends yesterday…" _she pushed the thought out of her head and continued getting ready for school. She glanced at the time again when she was ready and realized something: she hadn't seen Undertaker all morning. She looked around in every room, closet, and bathroom she could find in the house. There was no sign of him. Anger burned inside her, _"He lied," _she told herself. She walked out the door to start the long tread to school, still angry at him.

She got to school and looked around the courtyard for Grell and William, then spotted them sitting on a bench by a weeping willow tree and joined them.

"Hi ya~!" Grell said when he saw her. William looked up to acknowledge her presence then looked back at his book.

"Hi," Isabel replied with fake cheerfulness to her voice.

"Today's going to be boring…" Grell stated.

"Why?"

"Because all we're learning about is basic science. NOTHING FUN OR RELATED TO SHINIGAMI!" Grell exclaimed, then let out a puff of air, "I can't wait until we get older and learn about something COOL," he added. William nodded in agreement, not even looking up from his book. Isabel tilted her head to look at the title, but couldn't fully see it. Something by Shakespeare, she could tell that much.

_"We're six, how is he…?" _she wondered.

"So, how was your time away from me~?" Grell asked her, making an overly dramatic gesture to himself. Two can play at this game, she told herself.

"Oh, absolutely terrible!" She exclaimed, throwing her arms around him. Grell was shocked for a moment, then grinned.

"I'm sure it was," he said in reply, "But now I'M here!" He said wrapping an arm around her. Isabel blushed slightly, but Grell didn't really think much of it. The ball rang, and they walked to their classroom. The day went like yesterday, only they learnt about science and didn't get a lecture about their glasses; today they got a lecture about respect and how to be courteous with other shinigami. The bell rang, just as the lecture ended and children spilled out into the courtyard to wait for their parents.

Grell, William, and Isabel sat on a bench instead of the fountain, not wanting a repeat of yesterday. Surprisingly, they weren't really bothered today. So, they talked about how each of them got their beginners' scythes and how exciting it would be to learn to use them. William's father came to get him first, leaving Grell and Isabel to talk among themselves. They were in the middle of a delightful conversation about the human realm when Undertaker appeared at the gate. Isabel sheepishly said her goodbye to Grell and walked over to where Undertaker stood.

"Hello, Isabel~" Undertaker said cheerfully like he always. Isabel didn't respond, instead, she just glared at him. "What?" he asked, his cheerfulness dropping. This was the last straw for Isabel, and luckily no other parents were around.

"You know what!" she yelled at him. "You lied! You said you wouldn't leave me! But that's exactly what you did!"

"Isabel, you don't under-"

"Leave me alone," she told him, cutting his sentence off. Her eyes were welling up with tears.

"Isabel, come on. I'll explain on the way home," he pleaded.

"No, either way, you lied to me!" she spun around and ran down the road, the opposite direction of their house. Undertaker ran after her, but she was fast. Too fast. She kept running, hot tears streaming down her face. She didn't know where she was going, and knew that was foolish, but she survived in the human realm, she could do the same here. What she didn't know is that that was not true. She eventually slowed down to a walk, but only when she couldn't hear anyone behind her. She walked on, still crying silently. _"Why does everyone leave me?" _she silently wondered, _"Does everyone hate me?"_ she looked at the ground and saw a shadow of someone or **something **silently following her. She froze and the thing froze behind her. She reached into her bag and clutched the scythe's handle in her hands, getting ready to fight in case it attacked. Now she could hear it breathing, it didn't breath like a human or a shinigami. She spun around, holding the scythe up in defense. There was a dark mass in front of her, she swiped at it, but the scythe went through it as if it were air. She backed away, her eyes widening in fear. It followed her. It changed into a tall man with jet black hair and yellow cat-eyes, but his hands remained black and he had talons. Isabel kept backing up but was stopped by a tree behind her. The man kept walking towards her, chuckling now.

"A little shinigami really shouldn't be out by herself…" he told her.

"Get away from me!" She screamed holding up her scythe. The man chuckled.

"But your soul smells delicious," he said in reply.

"A-are you a demon?"

"No….I'm much worse." Isabel swiped the scythe at him, but he knocked it out of her hands, sending it flying several feet away. He then lunged at her and slashed at her with his talons. She screamed, where he had slashed her burned as if she were on fire. He slashed her again and again.

_"Why won't anybody help me?" _she wondered as her blood turned her dress black, _"Maybe this is for the best…" _The man lifted his head as if smelling something, looked at her a moment then dissipated into the air, leaving her slumped up against the tree, bleeding. _"Even he left me…" _she said. It was a cloudy day; she thought it was the perfect weather for her death. She couldn't get up, she was too weak. She looked at her dress. _"So much blood," _she thought. She felt dizzy. She heard footsteps running her direction just before everything went black.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOO

"Isabel?" asked a familiar voice. She slightly opened her eyes. She didn't recognize where she was.

"W-where?" she asked, barely audible.

"Shhh, it's okay. You're safe," they said. She looked at where the voice was coming from and smiled. It was Grell, beside the bed she was laid on. She looked down at her torso where the **thing **had scratched her, Grell had bandaged her up.

"Thank you," she said weakly.

"What were you doing?" He questioned her, worried. She didn't answer, but he guessed off of seeing her running from Undertaker after hearing what she yelled at him. He got her some tea and returned.

"So, where is this?" she asked, sipping her tea.

"My house," Grell replied. "It's not glamorous, but it's nice."

"Yeah," she agreed. They sat in silence for a long time until Isabel's eyelids felt heavy. She tried to stay awake, but fell asleep. Grell saw her beginning to fall asleep and kissed her forehead. She blushed and smiled. Grell didn't leave her bedside, and that night she had a very vivid dream.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

**(Isabel's dream)**

****Isabel and Grell were walking down the street, admiring the view. They were holding hands, which gave Isabel butterflies in her tummy. They started skipping and singing for some reason. They were just really happy. Isabel wasn't clawed up, but was in her red dress. They kept skipping until the man was standing in front of them. Isabel tried to get Grell to run away from him, but Grell was too interested in the man. Isabel was screaming for Grell to run, but he wasn't listening. The man was calm, but suddenly slit Grell's throat. Isabel screamed as she saw her friend fall to the ground dead. She tried to run, but the man caught her and poked her blue eye, turning it like the other. Now she had mixed feelings for him, but still wanted to run. She couldn't though, she could only scream. The next thing she knew, Undertaker came up behind the man and cut him in half with his scythe, the man turned into smoke which floated away in the wind. It was so confusing. Grell was dead, the man was dead, Undertaker had saved her, but the man changed her eye. Then, another man, similar to the first, ran up and slit Undertaker's throat. She watched in horror as he fell dead beside Grell. She screamed again. Then, the man turned to her and said: "We've found you, Isabel. We're here to take you home." He slowly walked towards her and held a talon to her throat. She screamed once again and it went black.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO OOOO

Isabel woke up screaming, startling Grell awake. He ran over to her.

"Isabel, what's wrong?!" he asked, panicked.

"I had a nightmare," she left it at that, crying now. He sat beside her and hugged her, telling her it was okay. She fell asleep in his arms, and he in hers.

**(Don't worry, bad things won't happen EVERY chapter...)**


	6. The Hunt

**(These events took place the same day as the events in Chapter 5: The Attack) **

It was really early, still dark out. Undertaker and Isabel were asleep in Undertaker's bed when Undertaker was awoken by a tapping on the window. He looked up and saw yellow-cat like eyes glowing at him from the window. The thing's eyes widened and it walked away from the window. Undertaker knew what it was. He had to follow it, it was his job. He looked at Isabel, _"I can't leave her. I made a promise. I said I wouldn't leave her," _he thought, but then corrected himself, _"But this is my job. If I don't follow it, I can get in trouble. I'll explain to her tomorrow, she'll understand…" _he assured himself. He got up, careful to not disturb Isabel, pulled on his coat and slipped on his glasses, grabbed his scythe and looked back at Isabel for a moment. _"She'll understand," _he kept telling himself, mostly convincing himself more than anything. He silently opened the window and jumped into the night, the window latching behind him. He looked down the road and saw the eyes staring at him from a shadow. _"Gotchya," _he smirked and ran at the pair of eyes only for the thing to step aside into the light. It was the man with black hair and yellow-cat-like eyes.

"You think you can catch me that easily, shinigami?" he questioned Undertaker.

"Oh, no. I believe it much easier," Undertaker antagonized. The man hissed.

"You know what I am, shinigami, and it would be a shame should I hurt that little one, the one with the blue eye…uh…Isabel, is it?" he smirked. Anger burned in Undertaker, churning his stomach.

"Don't you dare," he warned the man. The man smirked.

"Oh, but she smells delicious," the man replied smiling like the Cheshire cat. This was the last straw for Undertaker; he lunged at the man and swung his scythe, cutting the man's shoulder.

"You shouldn't have done that!" the man hissed, "Undertaker."

"You shouldn't have threatened my family," Undertaker spat at him, "Elijah."

"Hehe, you found out my name," Elijah said with a smirk, "Good for you." Undertaker swung at Elijah again, missing. Elijah looked to the rising sun and looked back to Undertaker. "I must go," he said, running off.

"NO!" Undertaker yelled and ran after him, only to not find any sign of him. He growled a low growl like a dog about to attack. It was something some shinigami could do; some used it to freak out teachers as children. He searched and searched all morning then looked at the sun. He was out later than he thought, Isabel was already at school. He began walking to the main headquarters so he could file the new events concerning Elijah.

He got there an hour later, being across town. He sighed and opened the door to find a large crowd waiting for him.

"Mr. Undertaker, you were late!"

"Mr. Undertaker, are you alright?!"

"Mr. Undertaker, what happened?!" Soon all the questions and comments formed together into one buzz in his head. Like a mass of bees, then they turned into a roar like a waterfall. He didn't want to be rude, but he shot them a look. Some pulled out their scythes so he did the same and growled again. Everyone went silent; two guards stepped closer to the situation in case any violence ensued. "What are you planning to do, big shot?" Asked the same voice. He looked to the shinigami, a man with longer blonde hair and his eyes looked clouded over slightly, giving Undertaker an uneasy feeling. To avoid trouble, Undertaker just walked on to his office, slamming the door behind him.

He sighed and slid into his chair, pulled of his glasses and laid his head on his desk. At least Isabel would be safe at school…

He did his usual paperwork and important things that no shinigami really cared for. He couldn't focus though, he was still fuming mad by the time his regular shift ended.

As he walked to pick up Isabel, he felt uneasy, and when he felt uneasy, something WAS bound to happen; he just couldn't figure it out though. He shrugged it off and arrived at the gates. He looked for Isabel and spotted her already walking over.

"Hello, Isabel~" Undertaker said cheerfully like he always. Isabel didn't respond, instead, she just glared at him. "What?" he asked, his cheerfulness dropping. She couldn't have been THAT mad, right?

"You know what!" she yelled at him. "You lied! You said you wouldn't leave me! But that's exactly what you did!"

"Isabel, you don't under-", he said, trying to calm her.

"Leave me alone," she told him, cutting his sentence off. Her eyes were welling up with tears.

"Isabel, come on. I'll explain on the way home," he pleaded.

"No, either way, you lied to me!" she spun around and ran down the road, the opposite direction of their house. Undertaker ran after her, but she was fast. Too fast. Soon he fell behind and ran out of breath. He followed the road, walking along out of breath and panting. He heard a scream.

_"Isabel!"_ he began running again. He got to the end of the street, only to find blood. Lots of blood. He looked around and spotted a trail of blood. He ran, following the trail and came to a figure in the woods.

"You," he scoffed. The figure turned, it was Elijah with blood and red fabric on his talons. Isabel's dress fabric. Isabel's blood. A wave of anger hit Undertaker. Elijah smirked and licked up some of the blood of his talons. His kind loved blood just as much as souls. They were a mix of shinigami and demon, pitiful beings. They snuck into the shinigami realm; they preyed on shinigami and humans. He had attacked Isabel, and was now going to feel the wrath of Undertaker.

Before Undertaker could do anything, Elijah disappeared in a cloud of black mist. Undertaker decided he would find him, and when he did, he would kill him.


	7. Death

"Isabel? Isabel, time to wake up," said Grell, gently waking Isabel up. It was morning, and the bandages needed to be changed before they could go to school.

"Hmm?" Isabel gave in reply, still tired.

"We need to change your bandages and go to school," her eyes shot open. She couldn't believe HE was going to change HER bandages. "Please," Grell pleaded, "It's the only way you'll get better," he tried to explain.

"O-okay," she replied as she sat up. He led her to a little bathroom of sorts with some bandages and cream for **these** kindsof injuries. He gently unraveled her current bandages, making sure not to hurt her. He washed of the big gashes and she looked down and gasped. They were terrible, really thick and deep and looked like they were about to get infected.

"We'll stitch them up tomorrow, since it's a day off," Grell informed her. She winced at the idea, jerking a bit which only caused her pain. "Don't. That will only hurt," he stated the obvious. Then, he began spreading the medicated cream; it was cold and sent shivers down Isabel's spine. He kept his eyes on the gashes when he could have easily looked at her chest, even though she didn't really have anything there, being six and all. She thought it was odd, since they acted older than six. He began wrapping new bandages around her, finishing quickly. He nodded when it was okay and walked out of the room, "I'll get you your dress," he called back.

_"Isn't it torn up?" _she wondered, but was amazed when he returned with it sewn up and back to its original color. She thanked him over and over, but every time she did, he said it was all alright. She got dressed and fixed her hair like she did each morning now. She watched him brush his hair; it was such beautiful hair too. He saw her admiring and smiled at her, she blushed and smiled back. After that, they set off for school. It was a shorter walk from Grell's house, so that was good; it wasn't as painful as it would have been walking from her house.

Halfway there, they ran across Undertaker. Isabel scooted closer to Grell, but Undertaker stopped them anyways.

"What is it?" Grell asked curiously, seeing as Undertaker looked torn up.

"I followed that thing that attacked you, Isabel," Undertaker replied, "I got some injuries, but nothing too bad…"

"O-oh," she said, suddenly feeling bad, "Thank you," she added, her eyes welling with tears once again. Grell partially hugged her, making her feel butterflies in her tummy, but earning Grell a sharp look from Undertaker.

"Well, you two better get to school," Undertaker finally said. Isabel ran up and hugged him, apologizing. "It's okay; you had every right to be mad at me," he told her.

"B-but, you got hurt because…"

"That doesn't matter. All that matters is that you are safe." She nodded and pulled out of the embrace. She turned with Grell and they started off to school. Little did they know, it would be an eventful day.

That day, Grell helped out Isabel when it was needed. William helped too, even letting his stoic shell be cracked a bit. Grell heard some care in William's voice and got warm and fuzzy inside; he didn't really know what he liked about William so much, truthfully, before he met William he liked girls, now they didn't interest him as much as boys…especially William. Sometimes he would imagine William and him growing old together. A yelp brought him back to the present. He looked up and saw Isabel falling to the floor. He dashed over and caught Isabel before she hit the ground. He looked up, they boy that pushed her in the fountain had punched her in the stomach. The boy was smiling as if he were proud. Grell gave a look that sent chills down the boy's spine. Grell bit the boy's ankle with his sharp teeth.

"OW!" The boy yelled, "You little-!" The boy kicked Grell in the face, earning him another bite. The boy brought his foot back and Grell curled up, protecting Isabel and his face and torso. He prepared for the blow, only for it to never come. He looked up and smiled. William was standing there instead. He pulled them up.

"Are you two alright?" he asked in his monotone voice.

"Yes," Grell replied and Isabel gave a nod. It was the end of the day, they didn't want to get bothered again, they just wanted to leave. They walked out to the courtyard and spotted the trio of trouble makers waiting for them. Grell looked at the gate, no Undertaker to save them. _"Dammit," _he thought, making an escape route. He gestured to Isabel and William to follow him and they did. They ducked behind groups of children and got to the gate. He unlatched it and they walked out.

"Get back here!" one of the trio of jerks yelled as they raced to the gate.

"Run!" Isabel squealed. They ran off, not knowing where to go. They kept running until they were sure the boys weren't behind them. They all high-fived, happy to have gotten away so easily. They all looked around, noting they were in the woods somewhere. "Where are we?" asked Isabel.

"Don't ask me…" Grell responded.

"I don't know…for once," William said.

"Ah, little shinigami, I found you again," Elijah said, appearing before them. Great, they were lost, had no protection, and now HE was here. Isabel hid behind Grell and William. William drew his scythe, but Elijah was smarter than him and slapped it out of their reach. The boys took a protective stance in front of Isabel. "Aw, you are protecting my prey from me," Elijah said with mock sympathy.

"Go away," William told him firmly.

"You think you can order ME around?" Elijah scoffed. He lunged but stopped and sniffed the air then made a noise like he smelt something foul. Next thing the kids knew, Undertaker, William's father and Grell's mother jumped down in front of them. Isabel had never seen Grell's mom, but she knew Grell didn't have a dad, he had a male trainer that acted like one at times, but he wasn't a real dad. She was a tall, beautiful woman with red hair darker than Grell's. Unlike Grell, she didn't wear red, she had purple on. The grown shinigami were all glaring at Elijah, standing in between him and the children. "Pft, you think you can stop me?" They just glared at him as an answer. "Well then…" He lunged at them and sliced Grell's mother's shoulder, she swung her scythe, similar to Undertaker's, and sliced Elijah's stomach. Blood squirted out, but he lunged and slit her throat. She collapsed to the ground, bleeding out.

"MOTHER!" Grell shouted and tried to run and aid her, but William held him back so Elijah wouldn't kill him too. Grell started crying as he watched his mother die. _"Why?" _he asked himself, _"Why her, of all people," _he thought through sobs, _"She didn't deserve it…she didn't…I wish I could help, but I can't…" _he continued to sob as his mother went limp and lifeless, _"I can't help her...she…she's gone…forever…"_ **(Now remember, shinigami children act, talk and think older than they really are) **Elijah then lunged at William's father, but Undertaker brought his scythe in front of William's dad, tearing Elijah open even more. Elijah decided to make a final stand, slashing Undertaker across the face with his talon. Undertaker stepped back in shock and pain. Elijah went after him again, slashing his throat. Not enough to bleed like Grell's mother had though. William's father came up behind Elijah and thrust his scythe through Elijah, finally killing him.

"Will you need my assistance any longer, Undertaker?" William's father asked.

"No, Henry," Undertaker said, "Go ahead and get William safe." William's father nodded and picked up his son, air walking away.

"Mother…." Grell whimpered, he crawled to her and took her hand. He cried even harder now. "Mother, I love you…" he told her lifeless body. _"I'll never really be able to tell her that now…" _he told himself. This only made him cry longer as he held her limp, cold hand up to his cheek. He was getting her blood on himself, but he didn't care. He released her hand, letting it drop to the ground. He hung his head and sobbed. He wished he could have helped her, but there really was nothing he could do… he felt a hand on his shoulder; he looked up at Undertaker who was covered in blood too. He hugged Undertaker's leg, feeling like a helpless little child. As if on cue, the man that trained him walked up. He was a tall, lean shinigami with black and blonde hair. He picked up Grell and looked at Grell's mother's body on the ground. He nodded to Undertaker before Undertaker took Isabel the opposite direction.

There was no talking between Isabel and Undertaker, only the thanks she gave him before he stitched himself up and after he stitched her wounds from the other day. She didn't feel it. She had a strange feeling of joy, sadness, and anger. It was so weird, she didn't know what to say or think. Of course, Undertaker was feeling the same thing. They cleaned up the living room, throwing away the streamers and sweeping up the glitter. They didn't feel like having an upbeat anything right now. Undertaker's injuries would surely leave scars, and if Isabel's did, it wouldn't matter, they were on her stomach.

That night in bed, Isabel had so much on her mind that she couldn't sleep. She wondered what Grell's mother was like, her last thoughts, what her and Grell's relationship was like, how Grell and William were doing, when his mom's funeral would be, how much of the town would be affected, what Elijah was, how he even got into this realm. Too much for a child to worry about, really. They didn't have school tomorrow. Maybe they would have the funeral then, no…too early. She drifted off to sleep, a dreamless sleep.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Grell lay in his bed, still crying. He couldn't forget anything. Nothing would distract him. He missed his mother. Her warm hugs and goodnight kisses. How she would lovingly tuck him in every night. His trainer, Jeremiah, wouldn't do anything like that. He would tell Grell he was a guy and didn't need goodnight kisses. He wanted his mother to be here so bad, but there was no getting her back…not ever. She was gone forever. "Forever", that's a funny concept, Grell always thought. What happened to shinigami when they died? Were they reincarnated? Were they turned to angels? Was there just nothingness? A black nothingness? Ceasing to exist? He liked to think she was an angel now, a beautiful angel sitting on the clouds watching him cry…wanted to tuck him in. He could still hear her tucking him in each night, all the "I love you"s they had said to each other. How they were always there for each other. But now it was all over, all of it gone. Gone. Gone forever, just like his mother.


	8. It Will All Be Okay Now

**(Sorry I haven't updated lately, school, ya know? But anyways. Thank you all for your wonderful reviews! I'm glad you all like the story so far! *bows*)**

Grell woke up to the sheets being torn off of him.

"HEY!" He shouted looking up at his trainer, Jeremiah.

"I arranged the funeral. It will be later today, as soon as the mortician gets her body ready," Jeremiah informed him. Grell looked down, sadness washing over him.

"O-okay…" he replied. He kept looking down in sadness. Jeremiah hit Grell's back, forcing Grell to straighten his back and look up, yelping in pain.

"Gentlemen don't look at the ground…at _nothing_. They look up," Jeremiah stated. Grell nodded. Jeremiah walked out of the room, shaking his head. He understood Grell was sad, but he needed to be prepared to grow into a man and get used to death…even if it was a loved one.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

"Undataka!" Isabel tried to wake him up. He was never this hard to wake up, maybe he was just weak. Undertaker sat up, his hair out of his face, exposing his beautiful eyes and a pink scar. His wounds healed EXTREMELY fast, so the scars were setting in. He looked at Isabel; she was standing on the nightstand. She was going to jump on the bed had he not woken up then. She hopped down, fully ready for the day. "You woke up late, so I made some coffee," she said beaming.

"Oh~? You figured out how to make coffee?" he asked in his familiarly happy voice. She nodded, she was proud of herself. He nodded too and shuffled to the kitchen. He looked at the coffee she had made; it was darker than normal coffee. He took a sip, it was extremely bitter but at the same time sweet. He really liked the coffee. He breathed in its scent; it was strong, but not too strong and smelled bitter sweet. It reminded him of the events that unfolded the previous night. Bitter because of poor little Grell's mother, but sweet because the children were safe and Elijah was dead. He sipped the coffee again. He set down the coffee and went to get dressed. He came back to the kitchen dressed and had more coffee. He instinctively cooked breakfast for Isabel, some eggs with ham. He made some tea from America and set the food on the table for her while he had more coffee. _"I must be addicted to this coffee she made," _he thought with a slight chuckle. Isabel finished and skipped to the living room; Undertaker soon followed, having finished all the coffee. He gasped when he walked in. She decorated the living room again, only using flowers this time. She had picked red flowers, since it reminded everyone of Grell. Undertaker grinned and sat down to brush his hair. Isabel watched intently. She thought he had really cool hair; it was real long and soft. He put on his glasses and stood. "Well, shall we leave now?" he cooed.

"Where are we going?" Isabel jumped up in excitement.

"You'll see…" he said in reply like parents do. They walked for a while until they arrived at a store with all kinds of fancy clothing for things like weddings, funerals, big events…. Isabel looked around, the part they were in had lots of gloomy looking clothing. Undertaker was just going to wear his normal outfit, but Isabel needed something to where. She looked around; there were a lot of pretty dresses, even though they were black. She found one with lots of lace. She really liked lacy dresses, they were just…prettier. They soon returned to their home and waited.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Meanwhile, Grell was doing his own preparations. He had looked around the house for something to wear; all he had was red and purple. No black. He searched high and low, in every nook and cranny, but couldn't find anything black. He decided to wear the purple outfit; it was like his red ones, only purple. It was a darker purple, so he figured it would work. As he was looking, he caught a glance of Jeremiah; he was acting like it was an average day. _"THAT JERK!" _Grell yelled in his head. He was about to snap at Jeremiah, but he knew better. He couldn't help it, he was angry. Jeremiah wasn't showing remorse for his mother at all. She deserved at least a little remorse. He wished Jeremiah died instead, that he was…

"You really think that?" Grell spun around and looked up at Jeremiah.

"Uh…" Grell gulped. Jeremiah was really strict, even a bully at times. Grell didn't know he could read minds. _"Shit," _he thought. Jeremiah didn't read that thought, though. He looked at the outfit in Grell's hands.

"You're wearing that?" He scoffed.

"It was my mom's favorite color! You wouldn't know, you never cared about either of us! You're not even sad she died!" Grell yelled, earning a swift blow to the head. He fell into the wall. "What was that for?!"

"Falsely accusing your trainer," Jeremiah responded. Grell began to protest, but Jeremiah just hit him again until he didn't speak a word. "Say one more word and I'll-"

"One more word," Grell said defiantly. Jeremiah grew angry, he stared Grell down, making Grell uneasy.

"You little brat," Jeremiah said as he lunged at Grell. Grell dodged him.

"You're only angry because you're stuck with me!" Jeremiah got angrier, he swung his foot making Grell fall to the floor with a yelp. He kicked Grell as hard as he could a few times. Grell just lay there whimpering, tears streaking his face.

"Pathetic," Jeremiah scoffed before he walked off somewhere. Grell jumped up and ran to his room, being careful to avoid Jeremiah. He pulled out a small book from under his bed with thousands of tallies in it, he made another. One day he would make Jeremiah pay. He would show this book to someone, maybe Undertaker, and get away from Jeremiah forever. That would work, right? He heard a knock on his door after he had gotten dressed. He hid the book like he always did and opened the door to see Jeremiah standing there, looking apologetic. He hugged Grell against Grell's will.

"I'm sorry, Grell," he said, it sounded true this time, unlike some of the times. This happened every time Jeremiah hit him outside of sparring. He would apologize and sometimes make Grell…do _things. _He shivered at the thought. "What's wrong, Grell?"

"Nothing," Grell responded.

"Do you forgive me? It's the last time I'll do that, I promise!"

"Yes, Jeremiah."

"Oh, call me "Father"!" Jeremiah said with a smile. Just like always, Grell thought.

"Yes, father," Grell ducked out of the room to avoid what he thought would happen next, but it happened anyway.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Jeremiah left Grell's room fixing his clothes and hair. Grell lay curled up on a ball on his bed, as soon as the door shut, he started sobbing. Why did this constantly happen? On this day, of all days? Wasn't it bad enough his mom had died? He flipped open the book to a different section and put a tally there. Today was the last day, he would get help. Jeremiah's goal was to make Grell suffer, he had even told Grell that. He threatened Grell saying if he ever told anyone, it would be the end for Grell. He didn't care anymore, death was better than this in his opinion.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Grell stood at the funeral, staring at his mother's coffin and gravestone. Undertaker and Isabel stood to his right and William stood to his left. He was staying strong. He had thee little book hidden in his jacket pocket. Jeremiah wasn't going to be there at all, so it was perfect. The service ended right on time. Isabel and William were talking to each other under a tree. Grell walked to Undertaker who was talking to William's father.

"Mr. Undertaker, may I talk to you?" he asked quietly, "Privately?"

"Oh, of course~" Undertaker and Grell walked far away from the others, so they could barely bee seen and they for sure wouldn't be heard. Grell pulled out the book, making Undertaker interested, since he loved all kinds of information. Grell didn't say anything, he couldn't, and he didn't need to. He had it written on a paper, which he handed to Undertaker. He unfolded it and began reading, getting a mix of worry, sadness, anger, sympathy, and just plain upset on his face. He kept glancing at Grell as he read the paper, then held his hand out for the book, which Grell gladly handed to him. Undertaker flipped through the pages, a very serious expression on his face. _"This is bad," _he thought, _"Trainers are supposed to be loving and helpful, like fathers. Not like THIS." _He took the note and the book in his hands.

"Will you please not tell anyone that doesn't need to know? If I want to tell them, I'd like to do that myself," Grell said very fast.

"Of course," Undertaker said reassuringly, "I'm very sorry this happened to you. I'll get you a new trainer. A **nice **one, I met him myself." Grell began thanking him at the wazoo, beginning to cry.

Now it would be okay, he would be safe from Jeremiah as long as Undertaker was taking care of the whole thing.


	9. The Orphanage

**(This got delayed by a day guys. ;~; A WHOLE DAY. I'm sorry.)  
**  
Grell…..Grell…..GREEEEELLL!" Grell awoke and sat up with a start. He looked around quickly. Jeremiah was the one who woke him up. Grell was tempted to scowl, but didn't, for fear of being in trouble…something he didn't want with Jeremiah. "It's almost noon," Jeremiah said. Something wasn't right, Grell could feel it. Jeremiah was being way too nice….

"All right," Grell said. Jeremiah didn't leave; he stayed, as if he wanted to watch Grell. "Um…can you leave so I can get dressed?" Grell questioned.

"Oh, it's all right, I don't need to leave."

"Get out," Grell demanded.

"And why should I follow your **orders**?"

"GET OUT!" Grell threw a pillow at him, it wasn't very effective. **(That reminds me of Pokémon…)**. Jeremiah glared at Grell.

"FINE," he spat at Grell. He left and Grell let out a sigh of relief. He stood and walked to his wardrobe, he wanted to wear purple today for obvious reasons. He tried not to think about it, he tried to be strong, but he always thought about his mother. And he always ended up in tears.

_"Not this time. No, never again, no more tears!" _he told himself as he got dressed and combed his hair. He repeated it over and over in his head _"No more tears. No more tears," he_ walked out of his room cautiously and made his way to the kitchen. _"I'm glad I told Undertaker. Soon I won't have to deal with Jeremiah anymore," _he smiled as he thought this. He felt a blade at his throat, causing him to stop walking.

"You told someone?" Jeremiah interrogated, holding his scythe to Grell's throat. Grell gulped, not responding. "I told you what would happen if you let it out. You know what will happen? I'll-"there was a knock at the door. Jeremiah sighed, "We'll continue this conversation in a moment," Jeremiah said, walking to the door. He opened it, having put his scythe away. In the doorway stood Undertaker and three buff looking shinigami; Jeremiah suddenly felt a lump in his throat.

"Jeremiah, we need a word with you," explained one of the buff shinigami.

"Oh, like that will happen," Jeremiah replied, taking out his scythe and grabbing Grell with his two hands, he used his feet efficiently by running past the four shinigami on the porch and then airwalking. What he didn't realize, was that the others were right behind him. Undertaker held his hand to Grell. Grell was dangling in Jeremiah's grip, and Undertaker was afraid (among other things) that he would slip out of Jeremiah's grip and fall. Grell didn't understand for a moment, but as soon as it clicked in his brain, he reached out his hand toward Undertaker's. Their hands were centimeters apart.

_"Yes, just a little further," _Undertaker thought, reaching out his hand a little farther. His fingers brushed Grell's and a shimmer of hope came to both their eyes. Suddenly, Jeremiah sped up. "No!" Undertaker kept right behind him and grabbed at Grell again. This time was a success! He grabbed onto Grell's arm and slowed down enough to rip him out of Jeremiah's grip; he slowed to a halt, allowing the other three shinigami to catch Jeremiah themselves. Grell was hugging Undertaker, crying into him. He kept saying thanks to Undertaker over and over.

"It's no problem," Undertaker said in reply, keeping his eyes on the four shinigami until they ran out of sight. _"They're not going to catch him," _he knew that. He didn't dare tell poor Grell, he had already been through enough and had other things to worry about. He looked up into the sky, the gray, sad looking sky. He smiled, _"I saved someone today. Grell. Grell Sutcliff….that is a peculiar name…" _

"M-Mr. Undertaker? Did you hear me?"

"Hm~?" He looked down at the red-headed orphan.

"What will happen to me now?" He asked the legendary shinigami. Grell looked like he was about to cry again.

"You'll be put in the orphanage. Once you get a new trainer they will either let you live with them or have you stay in the orphanage."

"O-oh…" Grell sounded disappointed, "I understand…"

"Don't worry, Sutcliff. I'm sure that-"

"Oh, call me Grell! It'll be much easier!" Grell beamed.

"Okay. Grell, I'm sure that you'll have a wonderful new trainer. I'll make sure you get a trainer soon so you don't have to stay there long…hopefully~"

"Th-thank you!" he hugged the silver-haired shinigami once again. Then, he looked up at him, "Y-you still won't tell anyone about what happened, right?"

"Well, I have to tell the council of trainers and a few other people in a higher power, but not ran-"

"No! You can't tell anyone! You said you wouldn't!"

"Grell, it's the only way you can-"

"You lied! You lied, you lied, you lied, you lied!" Grell partially head-butted Undertaker.

"Grell, it's the only way you can get a new trainer. You know, get away from Jeremiah," Undertaker explained calmly. _"I haven't had this much trouble with kids since…well…ever," _he thought. Grell didn't say anything. Undertaker looked to the sky once again, it was going to rain. He felt a drop on his face and heard Grell sniffle. Undertaker looked down to find Grell crying.

_"I said no more tears, but I can't help it," _Grell thought to himself. The rain got heavier to a steady light rain. Nobody would have been able to see it, but Undertaker was silently crying, his tears being hidden by the rain streaking his face. Although he was crying, he kept a cheery smile. He didn't want to look weak, he was a legend, and he didn't want to make Grell even sadder than he already was.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

All this time, Isabel had been sleeping. She was now sitting in the kitchen staring at a cookie jar. She came to a conclusion.

"I'm getting a cookie!" she yelled to the empty house. The only problem was that it was on a high shelf only Undertaker could reach. She looked around, determined to find a way to GET THOSE COOKIES. She pushed a chair over and stood on it. She still wasn't tall enough. She sighed and hoped down, already on her way to the living room. She grabbed some books. "Ancient Shinigami Interaction with Humans, Hamlet by Shakespeare, Latest Models of Scythes, Shinigamis' Past with Demons and Angels, Shinigami Trainers and Their Histories, and Cookie Recipes," she read each book title aloud as she picked them up. _"What odd books to put together," _she pondered. She carried them to the kitchen and placed them on the chair. Next, she carefully climbed up and stood on top of the books. She reached up and leaned forward, barely reaching the cookie jar. She smiled at her success and took two bone-shaped cookies out, returning the jar. She hurriedly ate them, expecting Undertaker to walk in any minute. She climbed back down to the floor, picked up the books, and began carrying them back to where they were. The books were unsteady and the one on top fell on the ground with a huge thud. It opened to a page. She ignored it and put the books back then walked back to the book that fell where it lay. The book that had fallen was… Cookie Recipes. The book page it had opened to was the recipe for the bone shaped cookies in the cookie jar. The recipe called for a lot of cinnamon sugar, which was their taste. Only, the cookie pictured was round like a normal cookie. Undertaker made the cookies like bones by himself. She laughed, it was very strange to her, but she liked strange things. She put that book away with the others and made herself some tea.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Grell had arrived at the orphanage a mere 30 minutes ago and he already hated it. It was just…not him. He met the headmaster and a handful of the workers. The kids wouldn't talk to him though. He sighed as he walked down a hall way. He had gotten assigned a room. It had two beds and a small bathroom and a closet. He didn't have to share it with anyone, since there was an odd number of children there now. He hated the place anyway. He was walking around looking for something to do. He stopped when he heard laughter from a room, he walked in. It was a little arts and crafts room; it had mainly girls and really young boys though. He didn't care. He looked around.

"Oh, hello there! You're the new boy: Grell, right?" asked a cheerful lady in a black and white dress with a few paint stains on it. "I'm the supervisor of the art room," she continued. Grell noticed she had redish brown hair.

"Um, yeah. Hi!" he said with a smile.

"Well, help yourself to any supplies you want to use!" she was really cheerful. Grell nodded and smiled, then walked over to a part of the room that had fabric. He looked through it. He was going to make a doll, like one he had before, only different. He would still have that doll if it weren't for Jeremiah.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~~FLASHBACK TIME~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Grell had just been assigned a trainer. He had a little voo-doo looking doll that he loved; he and his mother had made it together. He took it almost everywhere with it. One day Jeremiah was teaching Grell about death scythes when he noticed the doll. He had scoffed and told Grell to grow up. His mother wasn't around, so Jeremiah took the doll and threw it on the fire. Grell screamed and grabbed it off the fire a little too late. All that was left was a burning hot gray THING that wasn't even a doll anymore. He had thrown it at Jeremiah. It burnt Grell's hand and burnt Jeremiah too. Grell had cried for days.

**~~~~~~~~~~~~END OF FLASHBACK~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~**

Grell scowled at the memory. He kept looking through the fabric. He found some skin-colored, some red fabric and string, some brown fabric, purple fabric, black fabric, and some cotton stuffing. He set to work on his doll. He used red for the hair, and made the clothes a mixture of red, brown, and purple. He used black for shoes. He carefully selected two shiny black buttons and stitched them on as the eyes. He carefully stitched a smile to finish it off. He admired the doll for a moment then looked up. Most of the children had left but one boy was gaping at the doll in Grell's hand. Grell left the art room and headed to his bedroom. He was going to sleep, he didn't care if it was only seven, he wanted to sleep. He was tired; the events today really wore him out. The doll took several hours, but he was happy. He changed and fell into bed, wrapping himself in the soft sheets. He hugged the doll to his chest and smiled. He fell asleep so fast, that he didn't notice the green shinigami eyes watching him from the window. It was already dark outside, making the green eyes seem to glow, Grell didn't notice though. And below those eyes, below the nose on the same face as those eyes, there was a smile. A smile so ominous it could strike fear into even the bravest men.

OOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO 

"Who ate some cookies? Isabel~?" Undertaker called from the kitchen. Isabel laughed. Undertaker was laughing too. They were in a good mood. In Undertaker's opinion, the day had gone well. And, except for sneaking cookies, Isabel was behaving like usual.

"They were good cookies!" she protested between laughs.

"What else did you expect? I made them~," he replied between his own laughs. They couldn't stop laughing. No matter what they were talking about, they couldn't stop laughing.

"Okay, that's it. I'm going to bed," Isabel finally stated, still laughing, "Maybe I won't laugh in my sleep."

"I doubt it~," replied Undertaker, still laughing like a mad man.


	10. Author's Note

**Hey guys, sorry I haven't updated lately. I have a HUGE, TERRIBLE case of writer's block. I don't want to give you a crappy chapter. Between this writer's block, school, homework, and other things, I haven't had time to write anything. ;-; I'm sorry. I'll post the next chapter as soon as I can. I love you all 5ever. Thanks for the reviews by the way, you guys are awesome! If you have an idea you want to see in the story, feel free to tell me. **


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